Ichigo woke in a world full of fractured glass and twisted, broken metal supports. Everything was sideways. And it was wet. Every, very wet. But it was better than where he had been, a place of needles and burning serums. Vile smiles as parts of him were cut out as he bled and screamed, until he healed again, only to be cut into once again. He had tried to get out of that place. The one filled with blood and pain and sharp knives, with a creepy male's voice murmuring how 'fascinating' something was as he was taken apart. They had done something to prevent that, and while the teen felt something familiar pulse beneath his skin, the orangette had no way of releasing that strangeness so that he could get free of them.
This desolate, water-filled and broken world seemed familiar to him… But Ichigo remembered fully built structures in the air, for what reason why the teen thought that this was wrong, the berry had no idea. After an amount of time that seemed to stretch for a year, but passed like a minute, the teen woke once more. He had slept in the broken water world, and continued to walk… or s-swim? Was that the word? around, looking for something, someone he had lost, who was supposed to be there. But who? Who wasn't there that was supposed to be?
A voice, a voice of Warmth-love-safety-kindness was speaking. He was angry, but not at Ichigo, who could feel the other all around him, covering him in a blanket of that a similar strangeness that that which pulsed within his skin, only different. It was violet, and full of-of things which the teen could not dare to name. Warmth-love-safety-kindness was growling at Pain-needles-knives. The one who had taken him after friend-ice-betrayer had told on him of his-his… His what?
The growling and yelling was escalating, frightening Ichigo. He didn't want Warmth-love-safety-kindness to get hurt by Pain-needles-knives, as when the latter was angry, things were much, much worse. The teen leaped off of the table, ripping free of the bonds that had been holding him down for what had felt like years, and tackled Warmth-love-safety-kindness, shielding him physically from Pain-Needles-knives, whimpering. "Nonono… He hurts. He hurts worse when angry. Don't want you hurt. Run-run S-sousuke! P-please. He hurts so, so much." The teen sobbed, hiding his face in Sousuke, -that is what Warmth-love-safety-kindness was called!- Before leaping at Pain-needles-knives, hands turning into claws as he tore at the black painted face, and hideous yellow eyes "NO! NOT HURT SOUSUKE! WON'T LET YOU!"
Silver-blue and red-black erupted out of him, smashing… Smashing Pain-needles-knives to the floor, driving the other's breath out, squishing, hurting,erasing him from this place! Make him go away, so as not to hurt Sousuke!… Warmth… Warmth surrounded Ichigo, arms gently holding him, petting his hair. Whispers of Sousuke's voice, saying-saying things that make him calm down. Needles is gone now. No need to worry. Safe. Safe Sousuke is here. Sousuke won't let them hurt him anymore. But why was Sousuke crying and apologizing? "No, not your fault. Friend-ice-betrayer told. Not your fault. Love you. Love you so much. Wouldn't let them hurt you. Wouldn't let me hurt you either. So Pain-needles-knives took me. Sousuke, please, don't cry, love you. I love you." Ichigo didn't understand why the other was crying so much. They were together again, and both were whole… Why tears? "Sousuke, Sou are you hurt? Why are you crying?" The teen lightly touched everywhere he could reach, smelling, feeling, looking for blood or pain, but found none.
When Ichigo hadn't met up for their date, Aizen had been mildly concerned. Their dates were carefully planned and coordinated so that the two of them could spend as much time as was safe for both of them. But occasionally the teen got caught off-guard or had to cancel due to attacking hollows or overly curious friends (shinigami or otherwise). Then the next date was missed, and the brown haired arrancar lord was much more concerned. He had his best arrancar search for his love, only to find that the teen had been missing for months before the first date. Mildly terrified, he manipulated his contacts and cameras in Soul Society to try and find Ichigo.
What he had found, had horrified the powerful shinigami. The new Central Forty-Six had found out about Ichigo, and had decided that such a "dangerous and unstable young creature" should be under the direct study and care of the twelfth division, in order to see how It worked, and to see if there was anything useful to be created from such a had been protests until One Kuchiki Rukia spoke up, explaining how she had seen Ichigo initiate a kiss with Aizen, and seemed genuinely delighted to be in the other's presence.
When Ichigo had been asked about his relationship with him, the brown haired man's heart both warmed and clenched painfully. Ichigo told them of their romantic relationship, and how the teen was fully and highly willing to participate in such an entanglement with the brown haired lord. His powers were bound and he was sent, hog-tied and gift wrapped to Mayuri Kurotsuchi with the full blessings of the Goeti 13 as well as the Central Forty-Six to do as he pleased with the traitor fucker (even though they hadn't gotten to that stage yet).
It took everything he had not to go tearing into the Soul Society and rip them apart until Aizen had his lover, and their penitence for what they would dare do to Ichigo that moment, rage so dark, intense and sudden, the whole of Las Noches shook from the way the brown haired male's reishi lashed out. Several weeks of careful planning (with highly willing subordinates, his arrancar adored Ichigo. and it helped that Aizen was always easier to deal with if the orangette was around or had been near their creator and master recently. And what those shinigami bastards were doing to Ichigo was utterly appalling. No wonder Aizen-sama, Tousen-sama and Ichimaru-sama left) and the attack on Soul Society was due to occur.
The invasion went off flawlessly, and after many of the captains had been taken down by his espada, the lower ranked arrancar gleefully went amok with the unranked shinigami, as well as the espada began toying with the Vice captains to their hearts' content. Their brown haired leader went after the twelfth division at speeds no one could see, much less comprehend. Aizen cut a path from where he entered, all the way up to the research and development division captain's personal research lab was. The pathetic beings in his way either fled or felt Kyouka's bite. No one was spared an ounce of mercy for those who would do unspeakable things to the one who held his heart in those gentle hands of his.
When he found his darling berry, and the miserable low-life who had the gall to experiment on him, Aizen found, to his horror that his worst fears had been realized. Kurotsuchi had started on experimenting on Ichigo with the intent on studying the teen's regenerative powers. Zangetsu was nearby, which Aizen promptly recovered before going after the scientist. They were about to start fighting when Ichigo suddenly got up and held onto him. the way the teen spoke, so broken, with half glazed eyes shattered the brown haired lord's heart. But they had not managed to fully break the teen, if what he could say, and his actions were anything to go by. His sweet, if naive young lover was urging him to run, (Aizen would never run from the miserable piece of slime who had broken Ichigo like that. One of them would die today) before attacking the armed captain with his bare arms.
The teen let out enough angry, desperate reishi with enough force to be several black getsuga tenshous, even though both sides of his reishi were present. to Aizen's surprise Ichigo did not stop attacking the unbalanced captain until the other was dead. the teen didn't seem to realize the other was dead, so the brunette gently held onto his lover, one arm wrapped around his waist, the other brushing through the other's longer-than-normal hair. He knew that his voice had always fascinated the younger male, so he spoke, initially that Soul Society had been dealt with, and that no one would ever hurt him like this again. So long as he could help it.
But Sousuke broke down, asking for forgiveness for not checking on his love sooner, as he could have prevented the other from so much pain and mental and emotional trauma had he just thought to check up on him sooner. Or if Aizen had just kept his selfish impulses of wanting the young spiritual being's heart, in addition to ruling the spiritual world to himself, then the teen would not have been persecuted in this way. However broken his Ichigo was, the teen wouldn't stand for a loved one to be hurt on his account. This trait was showing as the other tried, shattered as he was, to sooth the other. Aizen's heart hurt a bit more when his darling protector revealed that he had known that it had been Rukia to turn the teen in for loving the leader of the arrancar.
The former Fifth division captain carried the partially sane teen out of the ruins of the twelfth division. None of the surviving shinigami dared go near them, as they realized that the reason for this attack, and it's devastation, was because of love. Love that the Traitor felt for the substitute, just as love had the stubborn teenager refuse them when they offered a plan to trap, and potentially kill Aizen through use of his and said traitor's relationship.
